You’re in an escape room, you’re bombarded with information. There are props, lights, sometimes sounds, and you need to figure out how it all goes together. You need to figure out what’s important and what’s just fluff. What is a clue and what is there for ambiance and story.
If you’ve done many escape rooms in the past, you probably are able to recognize patterns quicker than most people. If you’ve only done a few, you’re developing those skills. If you’ve never done one, you’re along for the ride and you’re excited. Regardless of what degree of escape room experience you have, a skill that is very useful (and may determine whether or not you complete the mission/escape the room) is how to ask for hints.
Room Hosts are there to make sure that you have a good experience and that you solve as many puzzles as possible in the 60 minutes you and your team have in the room. At Sherlock’s Escapes, you have UNLIMITED hints to help you complete your mission, however, if you want to make it onto the Ace Detectives Leaderboard, there is a limit of hints per room and a certain time that you must escape the room by. Our room hosts are trained to understand the flow that the room should have and can guide you through the puzzles, however, mastering the art of asking for hints can be an asset for you and your team.
There are times when players ask “how do I get this lock open?” or something along those lines. In these cases, we know that the player is looking to get ahead and we will provide the steps required to solve the puzzle. However, when players ask “we need a hint regarding [insert prop here]” or “we’re wondering what we do with [insert prop here] that we just found”, this gives room hosts more room to give hints that point you in the right direction rather than telling you what to do. For those who love puzzles and enjoy the game, a hint is something that nudges you in the right direction but still forces you to do the work and solve the puzzle. How you ask for a hint, determines the kind of help you get from a Room Host.
Another thing to keep in mind is timing. You only get 60 minutes to complete the mission. Depending on how far you are in the room, using hints can help kickstart your puzzle solving or it can help take you to the finish line. Understanding that escape rooms are designed to take approximately 60 minutes to complete, the number and difficulty of the puzzles you’ve solved should give you an indication of how much more you’ve got to go. Using hints efficiently and wording them effectively, can help you and your team complete the mission!